July 1, 2011

GOV. MALLOY ON FINAL PASSAGE OF BUDGET BILL

(HARTFORD, CT) - Governor Dannel P. Malloy:

"Our goal has been achieved: Connecticut has a budget in place that is balanced honestly, with no gimmicks. To be clear, that's not a reason to celebrate. The $1.6 billion deficit we just closed involves a lot of pain for a lot of people in the form of thousands of layoffs and deep spending cuts. But putting Connecticut on firm fiscal footing - which is what we've done - sends an important, much-needed message to the business community and to Wall Street. Now people will know we're serious about getting our fiscal house in order, and now we can re-focus our attention on job creation.

"While I think the House should've taken up the labor reforms I proposed, I'm glad we've at least started the conversation in a real way. We need to make the relationship between the state and our employee base sustainable, something it currently is not. Whether through collective bargaining or the legislative process, or by some other means, this issue of how we compensate our state employees isn't going away.

"I've been asked many times over the past few days about rumors regarding SEBAC and what they might or might not do, so let me be clear. If they choose to ratify the agreement that was recently turned down, and if they do so in a timely fashion, much of the pain that's been inflicted over the past few days can be reversed. If they end up not ratifying the agreement, then the budget we now have in place is the one we'll live with for the next two years.

"This has been a productive six months, a time period during which we have brought more change to Hartford than has been seen around here in a long, long time. Change doesn't come often, or easily - but I'm determined to continue changing the way state government does its business so that we can create jobs and jumpstart this economy."

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For Immediate Release: July 1, 2011

Contact: Juliet Manalan

Facebook: Office of Governor Dannel P. Malloy